Tuesday, March 04, 2008

The U.S. Navy, after nearly six years of warningsfrom Pentagon testers, still lacks a plan for defending aircraft carriersagainst a supersonic Russian-built missile . . . known in the West as the``Sizzler,'' . . . ``This is a carrier-destroying weapon,'' said Orville Hanson,who evaluated weapons systems for 38 years with the Navy" . . . . China boughtthe missiles in 2002 along with eight diesel submarines designed to fire it,according to Office of Naval Intelligence spokesman Robert Althage. A Pentagonofficial, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia also offered themissile to Iran, although there's no evidence a sale has gone through. . . .

The Navy's ship-borne Aegis system, deployed on cruisers and destroyersstarting in the early 1980s, is designed to protect aircraft-carrier battlegroups from missile attacks. But current and former officials say the Navy hasno assurance Aegis, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., is capable of detecting,tracking and intercepting the Sizzler....

[The] Sizzler, which is also called the SS-N-27B, starts out flying atsubsonic speeds. Within 10 nautical miles of its target, a rocket-propelledwarhead separates and accelerates to three times the speed of sound, flying nomore than 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level.

On final approach, themissile ``has the potential to perform very high defensive maneuvers,''including sharp-angled dodges, the Office of Naval Intelligence said in a manualon worldwide maritime threats. . . . Most anti-ship cruise missiles fly belowthe speed of sound and on a straight path, making them easier to track andtarget.